If you could imagine 14 year old Ann of Green Gables dying of brain cancer, you would know the heroine of this book. And, she is a heroine, the way she deals with her dying and the way she finds time and understanding for other people’s problems. And she narrates her situation with humour and power of observation. She is a voice telling the story that actually makes you want to listen and read to the end without putting the book down. Everybody else in the book is a little too good to be true, but the book has some really good messages. Also, the fact that it comes from the author’s personal experience (she went into her daughter’s bedroom one day just to find her dead) redeems it of any sentimentality that’s there. ( )